March 20, 2011

I have to get this little rantblog out of my system before I can move forward. I know that, and yet even thinking about it is still like staring into the sun.

Count me an ignoramus, looking upon the business dealings of millionaires and billionaires we are all but surely not possessors of all the facts about, and throwing up her hands. But mark me down as, still, anti-EVERYBODY.

Some of my fellow fans have strugged with this response from me. Sports fans are, of course, given to this behavior -- we have to have a side, even if we're watching a labor dispute instead of a game. And then there are all the rich opportunities it offers us to argue, our second-favorite pastime.

Oh, you can get into the minutiae of what we know about both sides of this dispute. You can project your own philosophical worldview onto it, also, and choose a kind of abstract, reductivist "side" of it all that way. Or, because this whole hot mess is so multifaceted, spanning the rookie wage scale to the franchise tag, head injuries, TV contracts and salaries, that there isn't one "side" to really pick, even if you want to, you can go around and around about this, forever. Some people will. Some people enjoy that, and that's fine.

But me? I want no part of it. Each new detail that's reached me has utterly infuriated me, from the league's smarmy "Letter to Fans" -- stuff it, Goodell, and talk to your damn players before you go trying to drag us in with some kind of hamfisted and unwelcome pander to the grandstand -- to Adrian Peterson's imbecilic comments about his $10 million / year athletic career, in which he is represented both by a union (or, well, was) and an agent, being "modern-day slavery".

The hell with all of ya. That's what I'm feeling right now, that and a new sympathy for people who never returned to being baseball fans after "The Strike."

I mean, has any professional sports league in this country emerged from a lockout or strike the better for it, especially the recent ones? Baseball emerged from its work stoppage in 1994 into what we now affectionately know as the Steroid Era. Hockey? Ten years after baseball's "outage", following the NHL lockout of 2004-05, fundamental rules of the game were different by the time the league got back on track, fer Chrissakes.

The bottom line to me is, everyone involved here had YEARS to work all of this out, to allow true compromise and dialogue to happen on all of the issues, before getting to the point where the whole friggin' league would implode on itself, alienating fans, damaging local economies, casting the future of the game unnecessarily in doubt, and costing everybody many of the millions of dollars that have been the cause of so much of this consternation in the first place.

And it's not like the powers that be, as well as the players of the NFL, weren't aware of all of those things, right? I mean, the only thing anyone seems to be able to agree on is that nobody wanted this. Not now, not when the most successful league in America seemed at the height of its power.

So how on Earth was it still allowed to happen?

I've heard a lot of arguments about who's wrong or who's right on some subset of the tangle of issues that's being dealt with here. But I have yet to hear an acceptable, direct answer to that bottom-line question.

And so, yeah. My preference right now is simply to try and stay away, both in order to regain my own perspective -- I will survive if there is no professional football played in 2011, after all -- and the better NOT to be turned off on the whole sport for good, whenever and in whatever form it should return.

Frankly, I think that's the most anyone can ask of an NFL fan at this point.

January 17, 2011

On his way out the door last night, my father, the one who taught me everything I know about being a Pats fan, put his hand on my slumped shoulder, looked into my dejected face with his own expression of genuine concern and said, "Remember. It's only entertainment."

I guess you could say I took this one hard. Real hard. Like, "I knew I should've stayed away from the Internet and even promised my family I would after the game but couldn't resist getting sucked into flame wars anyway" hard. Like, "typed and deleted the first sentence of this blog post over and over and over last night" hard.

See, it's not that I assumed or took for granted that the Patriots would win (despite assumptions otherwise by the fans of other teams who have come gleefully out of the woodwork to kick whatever Pats fans they can find while we're down). It's that I knew since last Sunday, when we found out who the Patriots' opponent would be, that a loss would be absolutely unbearable.

Because it's not just about losing -- it's also about losing, when it really mattered, to THEM.

January 16, 2011

"Yap yap yap YAP. Bottom line is, you got to buckle up the chin strap."

~ Ray Anthony Lewis, American football linebacker for the Baltimore Ravens of the National Football League, when asked about the New York Jets.

Just after the Jets gave us the 5 Stages of Manning Face last Sunday, a fellow Patriots fan on Twitter sighed about how it would be a very long week leading up to another showdown with the Jets, which will also be this season's rubber match between the two bitter division rivals, as well as a playoff game.

I could sympathize with that sigh, as it was clear from the get-go that the amount of smack-talk in these upped-ante circumstances would far exceed even the stifling norm. This has, sadly, been borne out, reaching either its peak or its nadir, depending on how you're measuring, with Antonio Cromartie's expletive-laden response to being asked about Tom Brady, a response which was printed in the New York Daily News and later publicly confirmed as an accurate quotation by Cromartie himself. It was a spectacle which I would assume had Jets PR wetting themselves, if I believed that the Jets even have a PR department.

Sigh. See. There it goes. Even if you swear you'll stay above the fray, sometimes it's the tedious fact of the fray itself that can get you puffed up and talking crap, too.

Maybe somebody just needs to send the Jets front office a memo reminding them that this tactic has been tried before. Since the 2001 Steelers, more than a few opponents have flapped their gums incessantly in the days leading up to a showdown with the Patriots, and as with that Steelers team, it has not conferred on them any kind of discernible advantage. Yet the Jets have just stuck to that same playbook: running their mouths, handing the Patriots abundant "Bulletin Board Material," and then, more often than not, looking like smacked asses when the field clock's running out its final seconds.

But the worst thing with the Jets, the thing that makes them not just boors but bores, at this point, is that, well...let's just say that after this last week, I'd like to see how they rank in the league in terms of average team score on the Wonderlic.

Talking smack before kickoff isn't the smartest thing to do in the first place, as we've already covered here, but when the Jets, true to form, went ahead and did it anyway, they couldn't talk even halfway intelligent smack. Hell, they couldn't even be bothered to go a quarter of the way, if you ask me. Cromartie's gem, "Tom Brady's an a-hole. F him." could have come from a kindergartener (admittedly one with a precocious vocabulary of obscenities).

I mean, seriously, Antonio. Let me level with you here. This trash-talking apparently has some kind of important cultural value for your team, and yet, THAT -- a spew of pouting profanity, followed by a whining explanation about how Brady once pointed at you in a way you felt was wrong -- was really, honestly, the best you could come up with?

Tiresome. That's just the only way to describe it.

However -- I will admit, I did get a kick out of one surprising and clever response from the Patriots to the onslaught of BS this week, which was delivered, equally surprisingly, by Wes Welker at a mid-week press conference.

I am on record as a non-fan of the whole Rex Ryan foot fetish story, but by that point, I think anything was fair game. The Patriots hadn't started it, but the ball was in their court. And Welker tossed it back, but softly. Not with insults and f-notes, but wit and subtlety.

After seeing that performance by Welker, I can't help but think (evil Patriots-lover that I am) of how the Cromartie and Welker press conferences serve as a parable of sorts, about the general gulf between these two teams in the "explicable thought process" department.

A thing I hope we'll also see played out on the field, as they meet there again.

January 14, 2011

Items 10-6 illustrated some of the ways the Patriots set themselves up for the 2010-11 season...but the team still had to go out and actually execute the game plan every given Sunday. So my top five slots are dedicated to the most important and memorable games of the regular season...

January 13, 2011

There were many moments, whether off-the-field roster moves, whole games, or single plays on the field, which factored into the Patriots' return to the playoffs in 2011. Before this weekend's faceoff against the hated J-E-T-S, I think it's worth a look back* at what I consider the ten most notable milestones for the Patriots on the road to being this season's top seed in the AFC.

January 09, 2011

No, really. As foolish as it looks now to have doubted the Ravens in KC, as soon as both your Chiefs and my Patriots got into the playoffs, somehow it felt like some crazy turn of events was going to lead to a matchup between us.

Or, more likely, I hoped some crazy turn of events would pit Patriots West, if you will, against the mother ship -- since about this time last year, as a matter of fact, when the Chiefs added Romeo Crennel and Charlie Weis to the coaching roster.

Just think of all the new storylines there would have been to explore. A defense composed largely of a Bill Belichick-led draft class vs. a team recently re-architected by his former partner in crime, Scott Pioli, with an offense featuring you and good ol' Charlie. Romeo Crennel versus Tom Brady & Co.

It certainly would have been a more pleasantly novel prospect than what we're actually getting, which is, for you, the proverbial playing of golf, and for us, 2010's rubber match in a Pats-Jets rivalry that's going to have fans on both sides stocking up on antacids for the rest of the week.

No, Matt Cassel, as it turns out, our storybook reunion is not to be. And oh, what punishment there was for you today in the game which ensured that, punishment at the hands of the terrifying tandem of Terrell Suggs and Ray Lewis.

Suggs seemed to be the ringleader in the rush that left you for dead this afternoon, and would record two of the three bone-crunching sacks you took today. And at this point in both their careers, Suggs is equally if not even more fearsome than Lewis.

But it is Ray-Ray, seven years Suggs' elder, who is, at this point, an institution of badassery, and a player who fascinates me more than any other non-Patriot. He was hardly upstaged by Suggs today, handling your third sack of the day, plus a forced fumble on one of your teammates, generated by one of his signature, stomach-turningly audible hits.

And so, Matt Cassel, my most prominent memory of watching those two gigantic, scary men just about break you in half today was a moment that featured the inimitable Lewis.

If you recall, you were facing a third and 3 on the Baltimore 47 in the early part of the second quarter, When you first lined up for that play, it was the Ravens defense, rather than your offense, which was featuring an empty backfield. In particular, CBS cameras caught a shot of Lewis, panting and puffing just across the line from you like a bull in a chute, standing with his bloodthirsty eyes trained right on your face.

You proceeded to call a probably life-saving time-out. You also may have needed to change your pants.

All I can really say after seeing what they did to you out there today, Matt Cassel, is that from a Patriots perspective, it can only be a good thing that we will not be hosting Messrs. Suggs and Lewis in Foxboro next Sunday. Especially since it appears that Suggs has a rather unhealthy obsession with Tom Brady as it is, even when his team is not playing the Patriots. In fact, it would not surprise me to find out that Suggs is also in possession of a voodoo doll, which lately just happens to feature long, flowing locks of hair.

Anyway, hope you have a good off-season. As for me, next week I'll be rooting for the Ravens defense to visit on Ben Roethlisberger what they laid down on you today, dear Matty Cassel. He definitely deserves it more.

And as for another episode of Patriots vs. Jets...ugh. I've got at least a little more time before I really have to reopen that whole noxious can of worms, I think.

December 27, 2010

It wasn't just the ability to create turnovers that helped the Patriots steamroll to a near-shutout victory yesterday over the Buffalo Bills -- it was also the ability to avoid turnovers of their own, and to capitalize (mostly early on in the game) on the turnovers committed by their opponents.

Here, the headline for most of the beat writers has been Tom Brady, his three touchdown passes, and his record-setting 319 attempts without an interception, not to mention his 26 touchdown passes without an INT since Oct. 17. There will also be plenty of talk around the ol' broadcast studio desk this week about Brady as a league MVP candidate.

It should also be acknowledged that the Patriots offensive line played yesterday, to borrow a phrase from one of my favorite movies, like warrior-poets. Particularly the left side of the line, which featured unbelievable blocking by Logan Mankins, Matt Light, and especially Alge Crumpler, and it was that blocking which opened holes for Danny Woodhead and Benjarvus Green-Ellis on runs.

Brady protected the ball flawlessly and sealed off three series with touchdown passes, but it was the running game, particularly from the Law Firm, that once again served as the core engine for the Patriots offense. After another 100-yard game, Beni is on pace to become the first Patriot to rush for 1000+ yards in a season since 2004. And to come back to Brady again: calling the play-action effective yesterday would be a vast understatement.

(Woodhead didn't do quite as well in the blocking game as he would running the ball. At one point, Bills safety Jairus Byrd jumped clear OVER him to get at Brady -- a priceless image, though it might not have been so funny to me if the the play hadn't still worked out for the Patriots on the other side of the field.)

***

Looking at the bigger picture, there is the question of who, among the Patriots starters, will play, and for how long, next week vs. Miami, now that the Patriots have clinched top seed in the AFC. But I find that conversation stultifyingly boring.

Then there is the more interesting question of how the Patriots might fare in the playoffs, against teams with more discipline, where they probably won't be fortunate enough to capitalize on as many turnovers as they have vs. the Packers and Bills these last two weeks.

But I love how much this team is reminding me of the early days of the Bill Belichick era, particularly on defense. Pepper Johnson is still a defensive coach, and he's still throwing high-speed passes at the defensemen in practice. I have to think that this year's quality of coaching, which had even a special teams DB looking for an opportunity to recover a fumble on a kickoff in garbage time, had everything to do with a game like yesterday's.

It will be particularly interesting if the Patriots wind up making a playoff appearance against the Kansas City Chiefs, who also kicked ass today under the leadership of a number of former Patriots staffers, including Charlie Weis and Romeo Crennel. Those with Patriots heritage out in Kansas City also include former backup QB Matt Cassel, who threw a career-long TD pass in today's victory as a starter for the Chiefs that was named the CBS Play of the Day.

But for right now, the weather outside is frightful, and most of New England is cozily snowed in (the team even stayed in Buffalo an extra day before flying back because of the storm), recovering from last week's rush of holiday activity. And thanks to what happened yesterday, we won't have to worry about playoff matchups, with the Chiefs or anyone else, until well into next month.

December 26, 2010

On this day after Christmas, the Buffalo Bills (and Patriots defense) gave to us...

Turnover #1With just over three minutes to go in the first quarter, and the score 7-3 Patriots, the Bills drove all the way down to the New England 12 with an "assist" from Patriots cornerback Kyle Arrington, who would be picked on all day for deep completions by the Buffalo offense. But there, deep in the red zone, Buffalo QB (and Harvard alum, as we were reminded ad nauseam) Ryan Fitzpatrick was dropping back for the kill when he found himself chased by Rob Ninkovich into the waiting arms of Gary Guyton. The ball came loose as Fitzpatrick was sacked, and was recovered by Jerod Mayo.*

The Patriots offense would capitalize on this with a touchdown to make it 14-3, New England. Score one for the Patriots linebacking corps.

December 20, 2010

I'm sure the first thing most Patriots fans will think of when they look back on this game will be offensive lineman Dan Connolly's 71-yard kickoff return toward the end of the second quarter. Much was made of the big man running, and the "loaf of bread carry" and so on.

"I don't think I've seen anyone carry a ball like that since I was about six," chuckled Cris Collinsworth during one of numerous replays of the anomaly from NBC's broadcast booth.

But from that moment until about halfway through the fourth quarter, whether Connolly steaming for the end zone was to be New England fans' consolation prize tonight, or the highlight of a win, was still in doubt.

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